I was going to do this with store-bought beans, but they were surprisingly expensive. So I soaked some dried pintos and put them in a crockpot with a can of tomato soup with a can of water, some catsup, BBQ sauce and molasses.

Let's get to it. The Object At Hand: a pork loin smoked in the offset, over apple and cherry, which is rather tangy. It's rubbed with a garlic/herb mix which came from a friend of mine who uses it as a baker at a Kroger grocery. Got a bit of decent smoke ring.

la la la la la

Oh look who's here

This is what I got. It's the first time I've ground pork loin that has been smoked. The aroma resembles bacon. The texture is too crumbly to form into patties, maybe with some binder like egg and bread crumbs. The grinder seemed to be fighting it and it was warm when done.

The seasoning mix, the Chipotle is from Sunny Gully Farms.

Into the pot! Now I wait for my enthusiastic assistant to help out.

Tomorrow morning, when I lay half-awake in bed, my left hand will smell of onions, again.

I love making a slow batch of baked beans, and making the household smell like them. I don't make them sweet with a lot of brown sugar like everyone else. There's sweetness in the BBQ sauce and catsup. ('catsup" fails the auto spell check) My secret trick (he tells the world) is the tease of molasses, maybe two tablespoons in a crockpot batch. It adds a depth to the aroma and flavor.

Here you go. Looks like, well, pork and beans. I like the flavor; it came out thicker than I expected. I was afraid it would be too smoky but it's just right. I need to do this again, and document everything so I can post a recipe.

BTW the bowl is from Heartstone Pottery, a chile-themed line from the 90s when peppers were trendy. I have a few other pieces which will probably show up in my pics here. I looked around online and I can't find any images of this line.